Germany - 1, Rep of Ireland - 1: Emmet Malone reports from Ibaraki: It was another of those days for the rest of the football world to watch and wonder. At how so many Irish fans could travel so far and celebrate so enthusiastically when once again their team had only earned a draw.

But also at a display of such bravery and determination that we are unlikely to see it surpassed between yesterday's sixth day of an already-blossoming World Cup tournament and the final on June 30th at Yokohama.

As last night's enthralling first-round game concluded at the Kashima Stadium in Ibaraki, Mick McCarthy, his players and the 7,000 or so supporters who had made their way from every corner of the globe to cheer them on, already looked as though they were going home as champions.

The notion may seem as far-fetched as ever, but once again they have proven beyond doubt that they can cope with the rigours of life amongst the game's very best. That and perhaps just a little bit more.

If there was relief on Saturday, when they equalised against the Cameroon some 12 minutes after Patrick Mboma had given his side the lead, it was nothing compared to this. For 75 minutes yesterday McCarthy's side trailed to a Miroslav Klose goal that would have - had Robbie Keane not cancelled it out with virtually the last kick of the game - pushed the Republic to the brink of a first-round exit.

Instead, they will this morning start their preparations for next Tuesday's final round of group games, knowing that the win they are surely capable of against Saudi Arabia will give them every chance of reaching the tournament's last 16.

There is still some work to be done if that is to be achieved, but after two such battling comebacks it would be heartbreaking to think that the Irish might fail to beat the group's weakest side.

Nothing in last night's performance suggested that it is a serious threat, for McCarthy's players not only performed heroically once again, but they also enjoyed enough luck at key moments to mark them out as a team that fortune has decided to favour.

That, though, was far from being how this performance should be remembered. Against a German side whose strength and composure made them formidable opponents, the Irish chipped away relentlessly until they found a weakness to expose. From beginning to end, they had greater possession and by the end, they had just about the greater number of clear-cut scoring chances as well.

Germany might claim that they let their opponents play for long stretches, sitting back and waiting for the chance to catch them off guard and double the lead. But such a claim would only stand up if Rudi Voller's men had retained control and that was simply not the case.

If they had come expecting to be troubled by Damien Duff and Keane in attack, they still managed to look surprised by some of the Irish pair's exploits.

In the end, however, it was the presence of Niall Quinn, brought on from the bench as the game moved into its closing stages, that finally unhinged them.

The big Dubliner threw himself into the task of providing a new supply route to the front pair with tremendous vigour and, within seconds, it seemed, he had unsettled Christoph Metzelder and Carsten Ramelow.

It was the former whose challenge Quinn shrugged off when flicking on Steve Finnan's angled long ball into the path of Keane for the goal. The Leeds player then got neatly between Ramelow and Thomas Linke, delaying his shot brilliantly before finally leaving Oliver Kahn helpless for the first time all night with his close-range strike.

The goal was the culmination of an unforgettable Irish effort, built on the back of a string of fine individual performances. In midfield, Matt Holland was again superb, working ceaselessly between one box and the other. He was supported at every turn by Mark Kinsella, while the central defensive pairing of Steve Staunton and Gary Breen also did remarkably well.

For most of the match the team was at its best when playing its way out of defence. The Germans were content to sit back and invite their opponents forward. As a result there was often space in which to work. Even when speed was required under pressure, most of the Irish players looked well up to the challenge provided by Voller's powerful midfield.

Still, there were spells when it was hard to see them actually making the breakthrough.

Klose's goal had marked a low point, with first Michael Ballack receiving an appalling amount of time to weigh up the options in front of him, and then the Kaiserslutern striker was allowed to steal goalwards by his marker, Ian Harte, who could only watch in dismay as the 23- year-old headed low to Shay Given's right.

Later, the goalkeeper would brilliantly keep his side in the game, stopping Dietmar Hamann's low shot at full stretch before recovering to block Carsten Jancker's attempted follow-up. But there was still cause - more than once - to be grateful that the big German striker was again in the sort of form that failed to yield him a single goal in 18 starts for Bayern Munich this season.

At the other end, Kahn also had to play his part and the 32- year-old repeatedly left his line to impose his authority around the box and then once, just three minutes into the second half, saving quite wonderfully when Kevin Kilbane's header put Duff in one on one with the goalkeeper.

He was helped by the fact that far too many Irish crosses were played in behind the strikers. Despite that, however, both Keane and Duff made a big impact over the course of the game, with Duff showing little glimpses of magic on a few different occasions.

Early on things clearly could have been tighter at the back, but with Kilbane and Gary Kelly both looking to pitch in down the flanks, the German wide men never seriously threatened to carry on where they had left off against the Saudis.

There were still chances for Germany to make an even stronger start, with Ireland caught more than once early by their fine movement of the ball around the edges of area. Harte, in particular, took some time to settle into the rhythm of the game and, on one occasion, after a bad error the left back had to be rescued by Breen, who shuffled Jancker off the ball as Given came to gather.

By the end, though, they were no more than a few minor blemishes in what will be remembered as having been one of the Republic's great World Cup nights. It will be recalled for many things, but none more so that the ability the Irish showed to keep battling till the death when lesser sides might have simply given up. It will be

remembered, too, as a day when the team that Mick built took another big step towards truly coming of age. Before they head for home it seems they'll do a little more growing together yet.